Status Quo
by RK Ryune
Summary: Two years after losing his heart, Demyx is assigned a mission to his original world. The only problem is, he doesn't want to return to East High School and the Wildcats he'd given up on long ago. High School Musical crossover
1. Stick to the Stuff You Know

Behold the plunnie that would not die. I originally wanted to make this a doujinshi – no worries, that will happen, but I HAD to write it down, first, so the ideas would stop kicking around.

More or less, this was a spinoff from "Nine," because the idea of Demyx being from High School Musical WILL NOT leave me alone.

_**Head in the Game**_

The shadowy image of cliques, cheerful friendships and high school musicals vanished with a wave of Xemnas's outstretched hand.

"And because the connection between hearts on this world intrigues me, I shall be sending a team to research and assess the potential of adding it to our… collection," the Organization's Superior concluded, finishing his presentation to the other nobodies in their weekly meeting.

Nine seats lower, Demyx timidly raised his hand, muttering "Uh, Superior…?"

"Yes, Demyx, what is it?" Xemnas asked tersely.

"That world was destroyed two years ago," Demyx replied, scratching his left elbow nervously.

"Like, with heartless?" asked Xigbar, seated only lower than Xemnas and nursing a cup of no-longer-warm coffee. Demyx only nodded.

"How do YOU know, IX?" snapped Vexen, looking up from the notes he had been furiously taking during Xemnas's speech.

Demyx blushed, reluctant to give a reason. "Because… well, that's where HE's from."

The meaning of the emphasis did not escape any of the eleven nobodies assembled in the stark white room. Demyx's other, the whole being he had been born from, was from that world. It did take a moment, though, for everyone to grasp exactly what Demyx had meant.

"Wait," Zexion said, waving a hand in front of his face, as if to gather his thoughts. "You're from that happy-peppy world?" he asked blankly.

"That would explain a lot," Saix said with a derisive snort.

Demyx shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "There's more to it than that, guys," he protested weakly. "The point is that it's GONE. There's nothing of it remaining to study. I doubt there's even enough of it left to slap together a gummi ship."

"You say that as if we've no means of traveling through time," Luxord purred from his seat one head lower than Demyx, shuffling a deck of cards absentmindedly. No one blamed Demyx, of course – Luxord HAD only been with the Organization for less than a year, and the ninth and tenth members had scarcely interacted outside of the meetings, when missions didn't prevent them from coming at all.

"Luxord is right," stated Xemnas. "Travelling backwards two years should not be difficult for him. I shall assign Demyx as team leader, since he should know more about it than any of the rest of us."

Demyx gaped, about to protest the responsibility, but was silenced by a glare from the Superior.

Xemnas surveyed the other members of his organization, assessing who would be best suited for the mission. "Axel," he intoned.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames sat up abruptly with a snort. "I was paying attention, Superior," he mumbled. No one said a word, they all knew Axel had been sleeping under his hood almost the entire meeting.

"As this world seems almost entirely comprised of teenagers, I'm sending you on this mission," Xemnas said with a frown. "I expect you'll stay awake while on duty…?"

"Yes, Superior," Axel grumbled, rubbing an eye, and unhappy with the fact that he'd be masquerading as a teenager – he thought it was obvious he was at least 20.

"Marluxia, you'll be the fifth member of this team," Xemnas said with finality. Marluxia had been with the Organization for only a few weeks, but had already shown remarkable competence and leadership – it was rumored his other had been a general. In reply, Marluxia only nodded slowly, accepting his mission with grace.

"We are dismissed." And with that, the eleven nobodies vanished one by one into dark portals opened up behind them, leaving a vacant white room.

The next day, the four nobodies Xemnas assigned, as well as the Superior himself, met in the Hall of Empty Melodies, a long, white hall decked with balconies and vaulted, gothic ceilings. The half-complete heart-shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts shone down on them from a hole near the ceiling.

Demyx was carrying a bundle, the contents of which he emptied on the floor. Xemnas nodded, acknowledging Demyx's leadership for the duration of the mission.

"Okay guys, ground rules. First, we need disguises. Black coats are gonna stick out like sore thumbs where we're going." He gestured towards the pile in front of him. "Take your pick, my dancers were up all night finding stuff in your sizes that would work." Wordlessly, he stripped his own black coat and gloves off, revealing a white t-shirt with a faded red exclamation point on the front and loose jeans.

The other nobodies quirked their eyebrows, but at an impatient gesture from the Melodious Nocturne, they began to inspect the pile and choose clothes.

Xemnas chose a white shirt and khakis. He presented himself to Demyx, gesturing for approval. Demyx frowned for a bit, then snapped his fingers. A dancer nobody materialized, holding up a black-and-white patterned tie. Xemnas put the tie on, awkwardly at first, until old memories of Xehanort stirred up and he remembered how.

Luxord chose a button-down shirt and dark slacks. He clearly needed no help dressing himself in the particular style.

Axel and Marluxia, however, had difficulty.

"The hell kind of pants are these?" Axel grumbled, holding up a pair of jeans, fumbling with the button on the fly. Marluxia was having similar (if less verbal) trouble. Demyx sighed, and demonstrated how to put jeans on to the two nobodies. It was clear that Axel and Marluxia had originated in worlds where modern clothing hadn't been invented yet.

When they had finished, Axel and Marluxia found themselves in jeans and t-shirts as well. Axel took longer only because Demyx had made Axel change out of the black shirt with "hot bitch" spelled out in glittery rhinestones – Axel had only done it to be difficult, anyway.

When they were finished, Demyx finished explaining the rules. "Second, if you hear music, run in the direction that it gets quieter until you can't hear it."

Axel raised his hand like an impatient school kid. "Yes, Axel?" Demyx groaned, half-impatiently, half-glad that Axel was stalling his return to his home world.

"Why are we running away from music?" Axel asked. "It sounds lame."

"We're running away because we don't want to start singing and dancing against our will, that's why."

The other four nobodies looked horrified. Demyx sighed again, and explained, "Have any of you ever been in a musical number?"

"No," said Xemnas.

"Only in the playhouse, mate," Luxord replied.

"Well, the boys in Agrabah would throw a few together, for kicks, sometimes," Axel answered, rubbing his neck. "What about you, General?" he asked Marluxia.

"When we did have them, they were always rigorously rehearsed and performed for someone of someone of high rank, such as the emperor or your ancestors. To be in one was a matter of great honor, and you did not mess up," came Marluxia's terse response.

"Emperor?" Luxord said, an aside to Demyx. "Flowers is Chinese?" Demyx shrugged.

"And why are these musical numbers of concern, number IX?" asked Xemnas, growing impatient.

"They're entirely spontaneous there. If you're in the radius of the number, you're part of it, whether or not you want to be. It's like being controlled by someone else – all the words, the melody, the dance steps – you know them, perfectly. I've been in more that I ever want to be in again, and I advise that we all run away so we don't look like idiots or let singing and dancing distract us." Demyx stopped to catch his breath.

"Wonder what crawled up his ass," Axel whispered to Marluxia. "He's usually pretty calm and cool – bit of a dork, even."

"Demyx did strike me as the kind who is easily flustered if his image is in jeopardy," Marluxia replied. "He knows we don't view his world favorably, and is concerned we'll think less of him – or that people he knew, old friends, will scorn him. At least, that's what his actions say – I know he can't actually feel such."

Axel quietly appreciated Marluxia's analysis, but reminded the eleventh member, "Having no heart doesn't mean not caring for one's self, you know. We can be nervous, happy, or sad – just not very strongly or for anyone besides ourselves."

"Hey, slowpokes!" Demyx called, half inside a portal. Axel and Marluxia stepped inside, and the five nobodies left the World that Never Was, bound for two years in the past.

They exited in a high school musical.

White and red attacked their eyes from every corner of the large room (a cafeteria, they quickly assessed), which was crowed with teenagers eating lunch. A balcony overlooked the rest of the room, and an angry blonde girl paced back and forth, gesturing at the other students clustered around a table.

Demyx's face turned white. "Leave, NOW," he gasped, flapping a hand at the double door a few steps to their left. The five men rushed out the door, and a few paces down the hall until Axel stopped them.

"Okay, this is nonsense. Why are we running from a bunch of teenagers that didn't even notice us? What are they gonna do, attack us with sandwiches? OH NOES," he said snidely, folding his arms and glaring at Demyx.

Demyx rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What day is it, Luxord?"

"January 8th, exactly two years in the past," the goateed nobody responded in clipped tones.

Demyx swore under his breath. "Any week but this one," he groaned, then turned again to his team to explain. "Right now, it's the first week back from winter vacation. This week, a new girl in the school, Gabriella, turned the school on its ear by auditioning for the school play."

"So?" asked Marluxia, frowning.

"This school is very clique-y. You stick to your group, and you don't go outside it. It was totally unheard of. What made it worse is that the captain of the basketball team auditioned with her. They both broke all the rules and it freaked out the drama club."

"That still does not explain why we left the cafeteria, Demyx," Xemnas said.

"In about 30 seconds, that cafeteria is going to be the nexus of a school-wide show stopper."

Axel and Marluxia turned white as well. "You mean…?" Axel squeaked.

"A what?" asked Luxord.

"Show stoppers are numbers that everyone in a vicinity participates in," explained Marluxia. "And if the rules of this universe apply to us, that means we'd be no exception."

"What makes it worse," groaned Demyx, "is that everyone's singing their hearts out about things they never would have told anyone. Confessing what they really like to do. It gets pretty ugly."

Xemnas perked up at the mention of hearts. "Singing or not, I would like to see."

Demyx looked dismayed. "Superior, you can't be serious…"

A loudly-sung "NO!" reached their ears. Wordlessly, Xemnas strode to the doors of the cafeteria, close enough to observe, but not enough to be swept away by the music.

Inside, students spun, leapt, danced their way through the cafeteria, on top of and around tables. "Fascinating," breathed Xemnas, the scientist in him already devising experiments and studies.

He was joined by the others, Demyx lagging further behind the rest.

_Not another peep…_

_Not another word_

_Not another sound_

The blonde girl on the balcony leaned over the edge and bellowed "Everybody, QUIET!"

The silence that followed was deafening, until a low backbeat picked up.

"Who's that?" asked Luxord, pointing at the blonde girl.

"Sharpay," replied Demyx. "Queen Bee and star of the drama club. She hates not getting her way and felt completely upstaged by Gabriella – she was one of the main people upset by the whole winter musical thing… is one of the main people, I guess, since we're right in the middle of it."

"So then is this Gabriella chick around?" asked Axel, filching a sandwich from a boy who had strayed to close to the door. Demyx pointed to a Latina girl nervously holding a lunch tray.

"And your other?" asked Xemnas.

"Not here yet," Demyx replied, almost growling. "I'll take care of him later."

Before anyone could ask what he meant by that, another loud "NO!" that reverberated through the cafeteria forced them to cover their ears and retreat.

"This world is crazy," Axel concluded.

"Demyx, I have decided what I shall study. You give assignments to the rest," Xemnas said, and then vanished.

"Assignments?" Demyx squeaked, then, resigned to his duty, pointed to Marluxia. "Go observe the garden on the roof. You'll like the flowers, and some interesting stuff will happen there. Take notes, so Xemnas doesn't think you were just fooling around up there."

"Axel, you go observe the drama club – they're in the theater. You'll probably like Sharpay and all her antics."

"Luxord, you watch the Academic Decathalon team. They're smart, so you won't get bored."

"What are you gonna do, Demyx?" Axel asked, curious.

"I'm gonna keep an eye on the basketball team."

And so, the four headed off to observe the various cliques, and watch the show unfold.


	2. Better By Far

**Did you ever lose yourself to get what you want?**

One of Luxord's favorite details about time was that it was continuous. Unless you were gifted with the power to manipulate it, as he was, it continued to march forward, relentlessly and unchanging. And since he wasn't interfering with the events of this world right now, life for the East High School Wildcats continued on.

His own reports consisted of details regarding the school's Academic team. His reports had been full of praise regarding how they were a group of smart, manipulative little bastards. While his reports did concur with everyone else's regarding the inherently shallow nature of all the inhabitants of the world, he still admired them for their treachery.

He also groaned in disdain when they decided to team up and "do the right thing" or whatever it was they were going to do.

Demyx had become a tad exasperated at Marlxuia, since all the pink-haired Nobody did was investigate the flowers in the green house. He did send one or two reports about "everyone making friends" and blah blah blah, but he, as well as everyone else, seemed rather disinterested in the basketball captain's internal struggles.

As for Axel, his complete amusement at the Drama Club was endless. He reported to Demyx nearly every day how hilarious the petty backbiting was, or how worked up Sharpay and Ms. Darbus got over something as silly as the leads in a school musical. "After all, Demyx," Axel crowed one day, "it would be an utter _tragedy_ if their precious musi-CAHL were ruined!"

Demyx laughed unenthusiastically, and filed away that everything was going as according to Status Quo.

Which, of course, left him with the Basketball Team. There wasn't anything to observe or report, really. He already knew the whole story – Troy would audition for the musical, throwing the school into an uproar. The Basketball team would try and stop him, because of the championship around the corner and because of the inherent un-coolness of the captain of the Basketball Team trying out for the Winter Musical and actually getting a callback. Then the team would realize that they had actually hurt their friend's feelings, so they'd get together with the Academic Team and make the callbacks actually happen, and everything would be hunky-dory, the finale would happen, they'd win the championship, and everyone would go home that day friends and smiles and light and happiness.

Looking back on all of it, he actually felt a bit disgusted.

So, since he knew everything there was to know about THAT side of the story, he spent his days wandering the school. He saw snatches of life inside East High School he hadn't seen the first time. He saw the skater kids trying to talk their friend out of playing the cello – it wasn't COOL, y'know? He saw the goth kids under the bleachers, shirking gym class – and he didn't even remember goth kids existing.

And he saw her.

That one day, as the entire student body was outside getting pumped for the game (he could hear them even now, shouting "Wildcats! In the House!"), she got her own solo.

Now, the only thing more important in the life of a student at East High School than a Show Stopper was a solo. Solos were serious business. Solos meant you were learning something important about yourself, that you were having a massive internal change – that you were growing up. There was usually a large amount of emotion involved, and depending on the role a particular person played in the general story, solos could mean a significant change in the way things were.

The Organization had done a fair job of keeping themselves inconspicuous, so Demyx hid himself under the stairs in order to listen.

_I thought you were my fairytale, my dream when I'm not sleeping…_

If Demyx still had a heart, he would have cried. She was utterly heartbroken. Of course, he knew it was because the Team and the Decathlon had conspired to back Troy into a corner and say things that he didn't mean about Gabriella. It still didn't change the fact that Troy had said them and hurt her feelings.

_And wishes on a star just don't come true…_

Had it been two years ago, Demyx would have done everything in his power to rectify the situation. But it was two years too late, so he simply filed away Gabriella's solo as something to report to Xemnas later.

And time marched on. Things resolved themselves, Troy and Gabriella got the leads in the show, EHS won the basketball championship, and everything was happiness, light, friendship and smiles.

Status Quo hadn't been changed.

The following months were uneventful. There was rehersal, there was Sharpay and Gabriella sniping at each other , there was a romance here or there. The only thing of note was the meeting Xemnas called.

"I have determined how we shall end this world," boomed the Superior, his sonorous voice echoing in the empty halls. It was after dark, and the five of them had gathered in the empty gym. "These last weeks, I have been spreading darkness where I can. Doors have been opened already. But I have determined that it is my own heartless that will finally plunge this world into oblivion. When he does such, we shall harness the escaping hearts and channel them towards my own Kingdom Hearts, furthering our goal."

Demyx didn't flinch. He already knew that, too. So he raised his hand. "Superior… I've been wondering."

Four sets of eyes turned toward him, the light from the single security light illuminating their faces and making them look alien and strange. He sighed heavily, then faced them. "If I were to take the heart of my other… would I be whole again?"

"Care to elaborate, Demyx?" Axel asked.

"Well… if I were to take his heart, or even better, ensure that he doesn't go out when this world does, would I be able to get my heart back?"

Xemnas turned to Luxord, wordlessly asking for his opinion on time and the flow of events. Luxord stroked his beard for a moment before speaking. "Now, contrary to popular belief, the butterfly effect is only a myth. You can pretend that you've gone back to change things, when the truth is, you changing things was meant to happen all along."

Demyx blinked.

"Perhaps I should be more clear. It doesn't matter if you kill your other, Dyme, Myde or whatever his name was. You killing your other was meant to happen, so essentially, you would have a hand in your own creation. It would mean you gain a heart, but another Demyx is born, two years in the past, making things cyclical."

"His question, though, was whether or not he could ensure the safety of his somebody and make sure he survives," Marluxia stated calmly.

"No, he couldn't. Because once he proceeds past the point where his heart separates from his body, he would cease to exist as a nobody, and then his other would lose his heart anyway. Even though we can move back, time is linear, and there are some things that can't be changed. How they happen can be changed, but certain events must occur, and nature will do everything in its power to ensure that they do." Luxord smiled ruefully. "Take it from someone who learned the hard way."

Demyx's shoulders sagged. So much for that plan.

Xemnas cleared his throat. "The date that my heartless appears is a few months from current time. In order to not prolong this mission, Luxord, if we could move ahead to late June…"

Luxord nodded, then summoned another portal through time and space. "If you will, gents…"

They tumbled out of the portal at a country club in the desert.

Axel turned to Xemnas. "I thought this took place at a school."

"It's summer vacation, they're all here on their summer jobs. Your buddies Sharpay and Ryan live here," Demyx replied curtly.

"Demyx is right," said Xemnas. "And this is the location my heartless shall unleash darkness, so here we shall finish our mission." He strode off, leaving the four lesser members of the Organization to decide what to do until events happened.

"I'm beginning to suspect our Superior doesn't like getting his hands dirty," sneered Marluxia.

"Think you could do better, mate?" Luxord retorted, ignoring the contemplative look that crossed Marluxia's face.

"Hey," Axel said, pointing off in the distance, "isn't that the basketball captain?"

Sure enough, marching across a golf course in the distance was Troy Bolton. Demyx paled visibly, then whipped around to face his coworkers. "I have something to take care of," he said, then vanished in a portal before the other three could say anything.

They stood around uncomfortably for a moment, until the sky clouded over. "Well, I was gonna suggest we go get a drink and chill by the pool, but looks like our mission takes precedence," Axel stated calmly, summoning his weapons and watching darkness ooze from the horizon.

Meanwhile, Troy Bolton was having an internal crisis. He too had a solo, and as he pranced around the golf course, it was obvious he was trying to decide between being himself and going after the opportunities spread before him.

He paused for a moment, and knelt down beside a water trap. "It's no good at all when you can't recognize your face," he sang towards his own reflection, brain a whirl of emotion, confusion, and broken-heartedness. After all, Gabriella had just broken up with him, and he had no idea why.

And suddenly, his reflection spoke. "It's because you ditched her for Sharpay and basketball scholarships, stupid," it snapped at him as it rose out of the water to solidify and take the form of a young man in a long black coat. The hood obscured his face, but the fact that he was standing on a column of water was enough to intimidate Troy.

He backed away from the edge of the water. "Who are you?" he asked, attempting to sound brave and coming across a bit squeakier than he might have intended.

"Aw, come on, Troy, you don't need to be so hostile," Demyx said, lowering himself to the ground and taking a step toward Troy. "Especially considering that, right now? All your friends are in serious trouble."

Troy's eyes widened, and he took off towards the Country Club at a dead run. Demyx laughed, and then summoned a portal to follow him.

When he arrived at Lava Springs, it was utter chaos. Axel swooped by in a line of fire, setting a wall ablaze and sending a crowd of women in yoga pants directly into horde of heartless ready and waiting. "What took you so long?" Axel shouted above the screams and crashes.

"I told you, I had some business to take care of," Demyx replied sourly as he extinguished the wall and sent a few water clones after a shrieking valet and right into Marluxia's waiting scythe. "Where's Xemnas?"

Axel pointed up to where Luxord and Xemnas were channeling hearts through time into the Organization's own Kingdom Hearts.

Demyx analyzed the scene before him, watching familiar faces contort in terror and pain as their hearts were lost, taking it all in, unafraid and unfeeling – a sharp contrast to the last time he had been here.

A loud, hoarse voice called above all the other screams. "Gabriella!" Troy shouted, looking for her. He rounded a corner, face streaked with soot from whatever fires Axel had started. "Gabriella!" he called again.

Demyx grit his teeth. If the past couldn't be changed, then the only thing he could do was continue the Status Quo. Only this time, he'd be on the other end of the conversation.

"Oh, she's not here," he called, adding a friendly note to his voice as he strolled over to Troy. "See, my friends over there," he nodded toward Axel, Marluxia, Xemnas and Luxord, "they really needed her heart, so they took it."

IN the space of seconds, Troy's face twisted with despair, sorrow, rage and hatred. "You killed her?" he roared, furious. "You killed Gabriella?"

Demyx held up his hands. "Hey, hey, that isn't very nice. _I_ didn't kill her. And technically, she isn't dead. She's just… different. You see those little things over there?" He pointed to a small swarm of Shadow Heartless, who were just now finishing off Chad Danforth. Troy watched his friend vanish into nothing and a pink orb, which drifted up toward Xemnas and Luxord. "Those're called heartless. When a body and a heart are separated, they become a heartless and a nobody. Since we needed your girlfriend's heart, there won't be a heartless. But you may be lucky enough to find her Nobody."

Troy bared his teeth, ready to kill Demyx in a heartbeat. "I don't care who did it, you guys are the ones that started all of this! I _will_ make you pay for it! If I have to spend the rest of my life hunting you down, then I –"

Demyx silenced him by running the end of his sitar through his chest. "There's only one problem with that, Troy Bolton."

As the captain of the East High School Basketball team began to fade, Demyx lowered his hood.

"You can't get revenge on a mirror."

And the last thing Troy Bolton ever saw was the face of his own Nobody, watching as he died without any emotion at all.

After they had returned to the present and finished up mission reports, Demyx found himself perched on the balcony above the Hall of Empty Melodies, plucking mindlessly at his sitar, a bit distracted.

Axel appeared in a portal beside him, and sat down next to him. "I only want to know one thing. How did you get Demyx out of Troy Bolton?"

"Dyme was his mom's maiden name. For some reason, when I woke up in Twilight Town, I didn't want anyone to know who I was. What if they were still out there, and knew that one day I would be responsible for all of their deaths?"

"Dude, we're nobodies. We couldn't care even if we wanted to." Axel replied calmly. He sat up. "Is that Dancer wearing a hat?"

Demyx sighed, and rubbed his temples. "I keep telling him not to." He flagged the Dancer down, and plucked the lime green fedora off of its head. "Since you're so bent on defying orders, go tell your sister to make me and Axel a sandwich, Ryan."

They watched the nobody of Ryan Evans glide away, and then Axel turned to Demyx. "Why did you do it?"

Demyx lowered his head. "Because you can't change the past."

Axel shrugged, then stood. "Works for me," he said, and then vanished again.

Demyx picked up his sitar once more – he had only learned to play it in the last two years, but in this world where backbeats and spontaneous musical numbers were no more, having something that was able to create music was a small comfort. His fingers picked out a familiar tune.

_You know the world can see us, in a way that's different from who we are…_

He sang softly to himself, and fought back tears as his memories overtook him


End file.
